Industrial Subsidies and Friction in World Trade : Trade Policies or Trade Politics?

National industrial subsidies are a major irritant in international trading relations. There have been many attempts to curb the damaging effects of subsidies on the international trading order; most have met with stiff oppostion and mixed success. Today the combination of industrial subsidies and the countervailing duties intended to combat them present one of the major threats to the international trading order. Industrial Subsidies and Trade Friction is a comparative analysis of the instruments devised to regulate industrial subsidies and lessen the effects of countervailing duties.

Perhaps the most divisive issue in international trade relations is the question of subsidies. Each year, G7 countries quarrel over member states's subsidies. Whether it's rice to Japan or rape seeds in France, the effect of subsidies on trade relations has become a matter of vital economic performance for industrialized nations, and perhaps the new diplomatic drama of the post-Cold War era.

Industrial Subsidies and Friction in World Trade examines a number of recently launched efforts to regulate these subsidies and obviate the need for hefty, counter-veiling import duties. Reviewing both the effectiveness and the origin of the newly created European Economic Area, Behboodi provides a timely analysis of this controversial, often irresovable, thorn in the side of international trade relations. Illuminating the role played by recent legislation such as Chapter 19 of the Canada-United States Free Trade Agreement, Industrial Subsidies and Friction in World Trade confronts this issue of international concern, negotiating such things as the political and economic effects of the European Union and the Uruguay Round Subsidies Code. This book provides a clear and fresh perspective on this often impenetrably complicated international issue.

Book Cover......Page 1 Title......Page 4 Contents......Page 5 Acknowledgements......Page 10 Abbreviations and specialised terms......Page 12 INTRODUCTION......Page 16 DOMESTIC INDUSTRIAL SUBSIDIES IN INTERNATIONAL TRADE THEORY......Page 20 INTRODUCTION......Page 60 MULTILATERAL REGULATION OF SUBSIDIES......Page 63 SUPRANATIONAL REGULATION OF SUBSIDIES......Page 94 UNILATERAL REGULATION OF SUBSIDIES......Page 110 THE URUGUAY ROUND......Page 146 CONCLUSION......Page 164 Notes......Page 170 Bibliography......Page 206 Index......Page 221 This book offers a comparative analysis of a number of instruments devised to regulate industrial subsidies and lessen the effects of countervailing duties.